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Use of Elizabeth Moys Classification Scheme in the Management of Law Collections in Nigeria Lucky Stephen Godwin Mr

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Use of Elizabeth Moys Classification Scheme in the Management of Law Collections in Nigeria Lucky Stephen Godwin Mr University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal) Libraries at University of Nebraska-Lincoln May 2019 Use of Elizabeth Moys Classification Scheme in the Management of Law Collections in Nigeria Lucky Stephen Godwin Mr. Redeemer's University, Ede, Osun State, Nigeria, [email protected] Adebiyi Anthony Adepoju Mr. Redeemer's University, Ede, Osun State, Nigeria, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libphilprac Part of the Library and Information Science Commons Godwin, Lucky Stephen Mr. and Adepoju, Adebiyi Anthony Mr., "Use of Elizabeth Moys Classification Scheme in the Management of Law Collections in Nigeria" (2019). Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal). 2584. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libphilprac/2584 Use of Elizabeth Moys Classification Scheme in the Management of Law Collections in Nigeria By Godwin, Lucky Stephen (B.Sc. LIS, M.Sc. Inf. Sci., Ph. D. LIS in View) Tekena Tamuno Library Redeemer’s University, Ede, Nigeria [email protected], [email protected] +2348060650128 Adepoju, adebiyi Anthony (LLB, LLM, M. Phil, BL) Legal Practitioner and Lecturer College of Law, Redeemer’s University, Ede, Nigeria [email protected], [email protected] +2348037545270 ABSTRACT In order to diligently pursue legal profession, as an undergraduate law student in a reputable institution like ours, Redeemer’s university, Nigeria, law students must cultivate the habit of an in-depth research capacity so as to articulate their minds on the legal research which lawyers are known for. As required by the law profession regulating body like Council of Legal Education that any university willing to train students to become lawyers must comply with certain criteria which among other things included the usage of Elizabeth Moys Classification Scheme in organizing law collections in law library. This paper explain the use of Elizabeth Moys classification scheme in the classification of law collections based on the experience from the classification of law collections of Redeemer’s University Law Library collections, Nigeria. The focus of this paper is to further simplify the use of class KP as it focuses more on jurisdiction (Own country). Nigeria was used as a practical example. Table I and II in this work simplify the use of the scheme by eliciting basic information needed to classify Nigeria jurisdiction collections. Effort was put in place to appropriately modify the main 5th edition of the Moys scheme for easy usage. The explanatory design method was used for this study as the methodology of the work. An observation method was also used to compare and identify the relationship between the existing library of congress being used and the adopted Moys classification scheme used for the classification of law collections. The funding of this work showed that there is difference in the class K of Library of Congress Classification Scheme (LCcs) and the Moys Classification Scheme. The result also shown that Moys Classification Scheme covered all areas of subjects of law in its schedule and tables and explains all subject areas of law. The implication of this result is that Moys classification scheme is the most suitable for the classification of law collections. This is because the scheme is dedicated the classification of law subjects alone. The usage of the scheme will also enhance uniformity and consortium among law libraries in Nigeria and the global world. Keywords: Classification Scheme, Moys Classification Scheme, Law Library, Law Collections, Redeemer’s University, Nigeria INTRODUCTION A law library is the library set up to provide legal information resources to assist judicial officers, other members of the court and their clients in case of the court, law scholars and students in an academic institutions and other law officers in ministries, police stations and other law related institutions(Gusau, 2017). A law library, rightly regarded, is one of the most formidable achievements of the human intellect. As well in its essential character and significance, as in its magnitude and its terrible possibilities of infinite growth, it is a thing well calculated to excite the emotions of wonder and of fear. The important of law library cannot be over emphasis because the information resources found in law library are stretching back for long centuries, of men's thoughts and endeavors in the way of justice. A law library, however, is not a mere dead record of a dead past. It is something far more than a collection of historical materials. It represents in large part a living, operative authoritative, expression of the human spirit. True it is that the men who penned these old statutes, and they whose judgments and opinions are preserved in those old volumes of reports and textbooks, are long dead and dust, but their spirit remains alive in these books and their words are still words of authority and power by which the living are ruled and governed (Salmond, 1922). Law Collections comprise legal information sources that are dynamic, frequently published, and in serial forms, because law is regarded as a growing discipline. Collections of law libraries are the bedrocks of all the services they can offer and determinant of the extent to which such services can be provided. These collections can be categorized into three, primary sources, secondary sources, and finding tools or tertiary sources. Primary sources are the information containing law, they are books of law rather than books on law. Examples are Constitutions, Laws, Acts, Decrees, Edicts, Gazettes, Law reports are courts and appellate court decisions, regulations and ruling of administrative agencies. Secondary sources are information sources about law which are not themselves sources of legal authority. They vary widely in quality, form and authority. Although they lack legal authority in a formal sense, some may have a persuasive influence in the process of law-making by virtue of the recognized prestige of their authors or quality of their scholarship. Examples are journals, textbooks, treatises, commentaries, restatements and other periodicals. While finding tools or tertiary sources of legal information are means of locating the primary sources of legal information. They provide access to large body of law, great number of decisions and statutes issued over time. This facilitates effective operations of the doctrine of precedents because judge and legal practitioners can have access to decided cases relevant to a particular case or problem. Examples are digests of decisions, curators, encyclopedia, phrase books, annotated statutory completions, loose leaf services, and indexes. Collections of a law library must be reasonably good diverse. Such collections must include all the categories of information sources mentioned above, and available in both print and non print form. Legal information sources in non-print form are available in database such as LEXIS-NEXIS, LAWTEL, LEGALPEDIA, LAWSCOPE among others. THE LAW LIBRARY AND ITS MANAGEMENT Library can be perceived in two major ways. First, library as a store house of information and library as a place of intellectual management. The information which library preserve and manage include books, periodicals and other printed materials which can also include films, recording of various forms, video and sound tapes or almost any format. Library can also be in form of a room or building where books and other records and information are kept for reading, copy and borrowing. Modern library is of two main forms 1. A physical library of books, and other records; and 2. E-library or electronic library; which involves the use of internet or information super highway using information and communication technology Duties of a law librarian Lawyers of high professional integrity devote and spend good quality hours in library so as to make good submission on any legal issues. In an ideal law library In this situation, the importance of the law librarian as a very important research source cannot be over emphasized. The law librarian in most cases are being referred to as specialist which give solution to legal problem inform of providing vital information on specific subject in an ideal law library and it is even a criteria for a would be university that will like to study law to have a trained lawyer to manage and superintend law library. Presently most of big law firm in Nigeria have cultivated the habit of having a trained lawyer as their firm law librarian. Having law librarian will aid researcher’s work of research and make it simpler. Types of information collection in a law library There may be various kinds of law information collections in a well stocked and diversified law library. The kind of information collections one may find in a law library includes: 1. Statutes 2. Law reports 3. Textbooks 4. Periodical and journals 5. Reference books 6. Newspapers and magazine 7. E-resources Statutes: Statutes or legislations are usually published in volumes as statute books. These include: • The laws of the Federation of Nigeria past and present. For example the laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004. • The past and present laws of any of the 36 States of Nigeria. For instance, the Laws of Lagos State of Nigeria 2003 • The past and present statutes of any foreign country, as the library may have. Law Reports: Law reports are the decisions of the courts published in volumes periodically, at such intervals
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